"Lion-like ambition but mouse-like resources" jibe at Levelling-Up plan

Communities minister Michael Gove published his Levelling Up White Paper last Wednesday, a week after Mayor of South Yorkshire Dan Jarvis said half of people did not know what the concept of “Levelling Up” actually meant.

Mr Gove (pictured) said Rotherham would benefit from being part of a £12 million project for a new technology centre and a share of £13 million to prepare brownfield sites for new housing.

The paper sets out 12 “missions” for improving life in the north - including boosting pay, transport and internet networks, school standards, training and life expectancy - which he said was “about ending... historic injustice and calling time on the postcode lottery”.

But Mr Jarvis said the paper, while “a step in the right direction”, lacked “the means to achieve the positive ambition it sets out”.

He said moves to create London-style powers across England, devolve more control over skills, and to spread research and development and culture spending more evenly around the country were welcome but pointed out the plans in the White Paper would not put South Yorkshire on a par with the South-East.

“A goal which takes eight years to get the rest of the country to the point London is already at is incremental rather than revolutionary, and there is no indication that more substantial powers, like greater control over revenue, will be granted,” said Mr Jarvis.

“Mayors and local authorities will still largely be left to fight each other for funding pots ultimately controlled by Whitehall.  

“Above all, the paper is missing the means to achieve the goals it sets out. Its 12 ‘missions’ are great aspirations, but their lion-like ambition is matched with mouse-like resources.

“The money is almost all recycled, and often less than the funds it replaces.

“In practice, cuts to local government funding since 2018 easily outweigh funding in that period from the main levelling up funds - by an average of £50 million, across 144 out of 157 local authority areas.

“Without the funding needed for real change, the government’s promises of levelling up will remain hollow.

“Two long years after the election the Conservatives fought on the promise that levelling up would be their ‘defining mission’, many people across the country will be left asking themselves - is this it?”

The Department for Levelling-Up, Housing and Communities said in a statement: “We are firing up Yorkshire’s economic engine.

“We are spreading opportunity and investment, and creating well-paid jobs in places like Rotherham.

“Our landmark Levelling-Up White Paper includes ambitious plans to improve schools in Rotherham, and we’re providing more than £90 million to transform the town’s infrastructure and local economy, including better local transport and getting young people the skills they need.

“This is on top of our plans to boost the powers and funding going to South Yorkshire’s devolution deal, ensuring local people have more control of their communities, and we look forward to working with local leaders to do this.”